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Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday that the Western coast of the country near the Strait of Malacca was “now the focus” of the investigation after the Malaysian military said it had tracked the plane by radar over the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels.... (www.reuters.com) More...

It is puzzling why our sophisticated spy satellite network could not be used to track where the aircraft ended up using an infrared signature for the plane. The shutting off of the transponder combined with the large course deviation strongly indicates foul play of some sort. And if the Military knew or suspected the plane was on an errant course why did it not alert civilian air controllers and or send up its own planes to investigate. I agree with those who say information is being withheld. The only thing that may be going for finding out what has really happened is that China is concerned and much more influential in that part of the World than is the US.

There are some Spook satellites up there in geosynchronous orbit, mostly for missle detection, that may already have this info and it may have been given but is just not being broadcast as they don't want the whole world to know what they are capable of.

Maybe the INSAT-4F will be able to help the SAR teams in the Andaman Sea. It carries carries the payloads in UHF, C-band and Ku band and has immensely improved India's blue water capabilities. The Andaman Sea, however, is a vast section of the Indian Ocean with an average depth of 3,500 feet.

At least that's what they show in the movies. Sometimes the movies are ahead of actual capabilities. Sometimes real capabilities are well ahead of the imaginations of entertainment creators.

US news media has reported that the Americans have checked their infrared satelite data and did not find a signature that was consistent with a high altitude fuel explosion.

There's little explosive energy at high altitudes in areas without adverse weather like thunderstorms with lightning. I wouldn't expect it would be very difficult to identify the signature of a high energy explosion in an area of clear weather.

Just curious, you don't think the US has satellites on China? (Malaysia and the rest of SE Asia would be easily captured ad well as all geography all the way around. And worrying about if they can see Malaysia has the built-in assumption that the US satellites don't cover the entire globe all the way around. Can you pick out any one area of the world that the US military does't ever stop in (even for hunanitarian work) and/or aren't concerned about the regime there and/or atent concerned if their military assets get blown up?

Short answer: It's safe to figure that the US has overlapping simultaneous coverage of the entire globe. With the speed of ICBMs, a capability that was less than fully pervasive would not be adequate to properly warn of an early strike.

China? Yes. Malaysia? Hmm, not so much. Like preacher1 said, that region in general, but not so much Malaysia. And I agree with you that the U.S. does have satellite coverage across the entire globe. Just curious about what he thought.

I imagine the satellite data is filtered to reduce noise but still sensitive enough to detect a launch or explosion. I wonder if the raw data is sensitive enough to detect the heat signature of a 777 over water. I expect the level of sensitivity is classified.

The always-on fast-response missile-identifying algorithm would filter out anything and everything that is or can't be a missile.

But the data is still there and certainly must be cached and/or permanently saved in the bowels of the NSA, NORAD or some other depository of potentially significant data (at least a few days or weeks worth of data). When the need arises (eg. an airliner going missing with over 200 souls aboard) a separate algorithm can be quickly programmed to search the available data in the time and geography compatible with capabilities of the plane from the starting point - the departure time at KLIA. They can run it on a fed supercomputer, and get a positive or negative answer fairly quickly.

It's not rocket science. Strike that. It is rocket science. But they've got enough rocket scientists on staff to pull it off.

A large unknown bogey (the 777 is no PiperCub) with all transponders off, not responding to civilian and/or military ATC calls.

If that isn't the reason to maintain military radar, what other reason should they exist (and have active radar) but to protect the country from an airborne attack. Would've certainly merited a scramble and a look see.

Maybe if there was such an intervention, and it resulted in the destruction of a commercial airliner, that might be reason to hide the truth... to try to hide the truth. A commercial airliner filled with civilian passengers. A commercial airliner filled with predominantly Chinese passengers.

Who wants that mess? Certainly not a small neighbor, existing so close to the Chinese-influenced corner of the world.

I don't think it ever got close to such an apocalyptic outcome. May be much more likely that the Malaysians let an unknown plane fly through their airspace.

But they knew in the first few hours that this plane traveled back across their country's land mass.

They certainly knew that one of their flag carrier's 777 airliner went missing with about 238 within about an hour of flight. The Vietnamese ATC imformed them so immediately.

By the very latest, the next morning at about the time of the initial announcement, they knew that the plane was lost off radar in the opposite direction and that the plane had crossed over their territory.

I said all along that they were holding back info. I strongly objected to those who claimed that the Malaysians were being open about the incident.

Early on, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. The possibility existed that they were conducting a well-coordinated counter-intelligence investigation.

But that they are keeping the entire representation of all of the world's intelligence an investigative agencies at arm's length, suggests that the kindness tbat even I extended was not at all merited.

I'll be clear.

They're hiding something. Maybe they're hiding incompetence. Maybe they're hiding some horrible outcome. Maybe they're trying to hide the fact tbat they don't know what to do. What two want to hide that they botched their initial response.

I understand that this is now news, but don't you think the military might have checked their own radar tracking before launching a massive search in another area? Seems like that should've been part of the checklist.

At least the US Space Command searched their computers for a missile launch and found none. In the meantime, we (US and others) are searching East of VN, while the Malaysians are searching West. Should be operating on same page.

Given that the area now under focus is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, if the aircraft had of gone down there, surely someone would have heard and/or seen something? I remember from my merchant days that, at the time of night the plane disappeared, you can see even the smallest of lights.

if someone took the time to disable all the communication systems , its possible they also would have pulled the fuses on the flight recorder and flight data recorder , if that's the case there would be no record whats so ever .

This is true to a point. what is getting me though is that everything should have been normal for the 1st 40 minutes or so of that flight and it looks like there would have been SOMETHING on the ACARS. There has been nothing reported at all, by anybody, which is why I kinda think there is something not being told.

According to the FA site, fl370 tracked via ADS-B up to 35,000ft as of 9:02 (PST)http://flightaware.com/live/flight/MAS370/history/20140307/1635Z/WMKK/ZBAA/tracklog

So there was some reporting, and I assume ACARS reporting as well.Little, if anything publicly reported after that. Someone pulling fuses sounds more sophisticated than your average jihadist with size 4-C shoe bombs.

I read on multiple reports that the plane's altitude was literally all over the place, including reports that over Kota Bharu locals report there was a large jetliner flying at 3000 feet with his lights on, while at the last point of radar contact his altitude was 28000+ feet. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense....seems more and more like a hijacking

They have NO CLUE where it went down, pretty good chance they may never find it. If it continued to fly after it disappeared off the military radar then it could be over 3,000 miles away from the last known location.

Let's all pray that some information emerges soon. It's been over 3 days in the open high sea. Not necessarily hoping for crash survivors BUT for the sake of surviving and grieving relatives. And for the sake of investigation and consequential remedial/preventive actions.RIP

Hopes for a breakthrough rose briefly when a group of fishermen found a life raft bearing the word “Boarding” 10 nautical miles from Port Dickson town at 12pm. Civil Aviation Department (DCA) head Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said two ships had been dispatched to investigate the sighting of the possible liferaft that could be a life raft, as it the hunt for the missing MH370 airplane continues.

5 Chinese Vessels Arrived at #MH370 Missing Site, China Rescuers Salvage Floating Object at #MH370 Missing Site AND MUCH MORE INSIDE THE STORY http://www.roomeetimes.com/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-life-raft-found.html

BREAKING NEWS: Fisherman pulls garbage out of the ocean. His debris recovery is covered all around the world, despite making no significant impact on the quantity of ocean borne flotsam in the world's oceans. Scientists perplexed why amounts of ocean garbage keeps increasing despite many highly publized retrievals of garbage lately, and suspect that humans may be poluting thier oceans with litter and debris at rates faster than the fisherman can keep up. Fisherman demands government subsidy for the ecologically sensitive work, after finding garbage in the ocean every day despite having picked up everything he had found each previous day. He's about ready to throw in the towel. He suspects the problem is insurmountable, and much bigger than any one man can can do anything meaningful about and decides to throw the garbage back in.

Conspiracy theories aside, 239 innocent (presumably) souls perished here. I can't imagine this type of death. It sickens me as much as photos of jumpers from the WTC. I will say that if the plane perished over the Strait of Malacca? This is probably one of the busiest shipping channels in the world. Everything from sampans to cargo ships here as this is the narrow passage between the Pacific and Indian Ocean. My aircraft carrier even collided with another ship here! It is highly improbable this jet went down in this area without eye witnesses or visible wreckage. This simply adds to the mystery. What will we conclude if the aircraft is 'never' found??

CBS National news said that while multinational agencies were all represented but that the Malaysian's were keeping them at arm's length and for the time being, were handling the entire thing themselves.

You bet... they're falling over themselves trying to be deferential and to 'save face'. If all of the hoopla about the track heading towards the Strait of Malacca pans out, someone's got a lot of explaining to do.

ACARS - FlightGlobal talked with a senior technical officer with Malaysian Airlines - at first they were told the ACARS was sensitive info and couldn't be released. Now they have stated that from the time the aircraft's transponder was 'off' - no further ACARS from the aircraft were sent.

In order to block or stop ACARS you either need to alter the software or block the satellite signal - either way - if the aircraft made a crazy 120 degree turn and descended - ACARS would have been sent - the fact the plane continued to fly - either the system was turned off/blocked or some crazy event that severed all transmitting systems - though 200+ passengers with cell phones - just doesn't make sense.

Short of major depressurization and a ghost flight/ even hijack and suicide how could you get all 200 cell phones???

Assuming the aircraft, as reported, went West for an hour after it dropped off the net argues against an event that destroyed it. Either someone turned it off, or the data are being short-stopped by the authorities for some reason.

Cell blocking technology exists- Calif Corrections has tried to get one for Folsom prison to keep the residents from using contraband cell phones (thus far unsuccessfully for admin rather than technology reasons).

Exactly. But cell jamming technology is easy enough to get, but entirely unnecessary at cruising altitude. All cell devices are out of range a cruising altitude.

If there is no cell/internet service via satelite link added to this plane, no further action is necessary. If there is such hardware/software built into the plane, disabling it would interrupt all communications (eg. breaking the hardware, pulling the fuse, hacking the software, and/or a jamming device, etc.)

It could be a bit of all it. CBS National news just said that while multinational agencies were all represented but that the Malaysian's were keeping them at arm's length and for the time being, were handling the entire thing themselves. Gives credence to the impression of a banana republic, high and mighty and strutting their stuff on the world stage. That said, they are holding back some reports for whatever reason. If the turning/flying change is correct, it lends more credence to a hijack and if it went dark for that reason, you are dealing with a hijacker a notch above average in the tech department to disable all that as well as send the plane somewhere.

You could conceivably have a hijack team that takes control of the entire plane. They can remove all cell phones and electronic devices. That is if Malaysia has wifi on this plane, that is able to forward electoinic or VOIP messages/calls via satelite to the ground. Without wifi and a satelite link to connect them, cell phones are pretty much useless at cruising altitude. Much more easily, if wifi/satelite capability even exists on this plane, would be to disable these communications globally at any point in the system that supports the satelite retransmission of the signal.

Turning off transponders and all satellite communications prior to changing the flight plan would prevent communication with the outside world.

Very true Bizjet, but if the maylasiann military rader is correct the B777 made a very deliberate turn and continued for some time on that heading. I cant imagine, considering what other facts we have, why a pilot would fly in this manner unless he was forced to or the plane was being flown by someone else.

I think is has a lot to do with the element of surprise , one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing ,and then when something like this happens , it takes a while to adjust and get all the information in , and that is exactly what is happening here

If the ADS-B as well as the normal transponder were non operational, how did the Malaysian Military know the id of the plane they calim to have tracked?. Last ADS=B transmission showed tha plane still heading North east at 35k feet.

Iam sure we can have the data on the flight tracked by satellite. They easily have the capability to see the IR trail, but filter that data out not to obscure what they are really after. PHOTOFINISH has it nailed. They probably released info citing Malaysia military to disguise the real source

I didn't day that. Having he capability to follow the IR signature of a twin engine airliner at all places on the globe simultaneous at all times is beyond what I said.

I merely suggested they should be able to indentify the IR signature of a large bomb exploding by itself at cruising altitude in clear weather. 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours of fuel is many tons of fuel should make a big boom. That would be several magnitudes more energy. It is also much rarer. That should make it infinitesimally easier to identify than picking out contrails of any one plane, when tree are so many airliners plying the skies every minute.

Somehow, I think Boeing and Airbus are going to have to respond to curious airlines that may approach them about what they're going to do to remedy the possiblility of their 250 million dollar airplane getting "lost".

It is already there to a point with the data function on ACARS, at least getting them into a general area. That is a problem for me in that there has been no ACARS data released. The one other step would be to get ACARS off VHF and then increase the timing of the transmissions. If the plane ACARS is only transmitting, say every 5 minutes, a plane traveling at 400kts would cover some distance between transmissions.

I would think that Boeing would be receiving some telemetry from these planes on an ongoing basis to monitor various systems.

This aircraft probably had sufficient range to make it Iran or near by. As another Flight Aware poster stated perhaps the plan is to turn the aircraft into a long range nuclear weapons delivery system. It could easily cloak as as a normal passenger jet even painted to match a domestic carrier...land at National or JFK without being suspected.

I've only got one problem with that...Why hijack a plane full of people for that purpose when they could just as well have stolen one that has been parked on a ramp unless they were gonna demand ransoms from the victims families and individual countries....Just to many red flags.No one would have noticed until the next day.....If they are gonna go through all of the hassle of repainting and turning it into a weapon I would assume that they also have a crew of "hells minions" to fly it too.

Heisting a 777 from a ramp would have likely caused a fight on the ground and military interception if you were able to get airborne. Stealing one at 35,000 feet at night over vast ocean space and going black greatly increases the opportunity for success. The Iranians do not need ransom money however they do need a long range weapons delivery system capable of reaching the US and a 777 would do nicely.

I remember a number of years ago a LearJet carrying golfer Payne Stuart and others had an oxygen/pressure valve failure??? and flew inself until it ran out of fuel in the upper midwest. The US Air Force followed it to its final destination.

I read the other squawk as well on the front page of this site. I am glad to see the three major countries in there defence force will hunt down or track down this plane until it is found intact or wreckage is found either way. I can see many comments circulating and some false media reports coming in this of course is nothing to do with all of us here talking about this incident and what we say. I don't believe any thing this Malaysian Government says including the Defence force for that matter they report things and come up with ZERO and that's be proven here to day my friends here on this site they lied about saying they tracked this MH370 flt until it disapearred then denied they said that on live TV.Now the US and Australia and New Zealand will find it don't you all worry about that

Hi all, first time poster. Long time aviation enthusiast, and with plenty of family in law enforcement, this case baffles me! First off, a great link I stumbled upon. This site is posting pictures of the ocean live as we speak and you may scour the ocean if you so choose. Sorry if it is against the rules: tomnod.com . Now with only very basic knowledge of a large aircraft such as this a few questions. 1. Is there only one transponder in this plane? If so, where is it located? My hunch is you have to relatively extensive knowledge to remove it.2. What about ACARS? Do we know If it was transmitting? 3. Can you wipe out all these systems at once? Are they all located close to one another? Once Again, my hunch is no.Without getting into detail, I have had family in law enforcement for over 40 years and this just doesn't seem like terrorism. Not western bound, no organization has taken responsibility, and no real smoking gun aside from the passport, which from all I can gather is unrelated. Could this be a southeast Asian terrorist plot?! Sure, however no chatter has been picked up. Leaning more and more away from terrorism.The only logical explanation left for mechanical failure would be a fire in the belly of the plane, however this would not explain the distance it flew off course.IMO, this plane is way west. No debris At all has washed up. Anywhere. This plane could have gone thousands of miles either way, I think it is much farther west lets say in the South Indian Ocean. I would appreciate any response on these questions! Nick

Welcome. I can't tell you about the ACARS but, I can tell you that there are two transponders on all RVSM capable civilian aircraft (most airliners and business aircraft). I cannot vouch for the 777, as I have never been in one, but on the A300 and the 727 (I have worked on both) and on the 747 (I know several people who have worked on them) the avionics are in the avionics bay, which is below the floor. While not impossible to access while in flight, It would be difficult. Theoretically, you can disable the systems by puling the circuit breakers, which are in the cockpit, so you could disable most anything on the airplane pretty easily if you wanted to.

Also, there is no cellphone service anywhere at FL350. And there is no cell service over the ocean or in large, relatively unpopulated areas. Sat phone, yes. Cell, no. And the sat phone antenna has to be able to see the satellite, ie, won't work in the cabin of the aircraft.

Is it out of the realm of possibilities that this plane was hijacked, flown to and landed in an unknown location with the intent to later use it in a terror strike? Couldnt an airliner like this fly into any major airport in the world without raising any suspecion?

The incomplete presentation of facts that the Malaysians were hoisting on the world at first, it was pointing toward a catastrophic event that destroyed the plane. If that had remained true than it would be less likely to have been pilot suicide.

Now we know better.

As best we can tell (if the info we're getting now is true:1. Transponders were turned off.2. Flight descended to a lower altitude3. Plane changed heading4. Plane continued flying for at least another hour.5. There was no further communication.

This tends to imply intentional actions. While there is some possibility otherwise (eg. ghost flight), the combination of all of these actions suggests that someone was at the controls, commanding these actions, whether a rogue pilot or other person who took control of the plane.

I further note that the point west of the Malaysian peninsula, where the plane was last fixed on radar is on the way to the Andaman Basin, which is the closest point of deep waters in that region.

Wouldn't it make sense to keep them alive? If the plane were identified military would have to shoot down a plane full of civilians. What if the US military had to shoot down a plane full of Chinese nationals?

Um no. There are much greater geopolitical complications that would arise from the one superpower blowing up a plane full of pasengers from the 'ascendant' but not anywhere near equal, yet.

On 9/11, the US scrambled 2 or more US fighters to take down a 4th US airliner filled with passengers that was presumably targeting the US capital city. Had they had to do so, Americans would've been very upset but would've understood the sacrifice of their own fighter pilots and their own passengers to save their own capital.

Taking out another country's plane, filled with another country's passengers is so not the sane thing. You can't imagine that the other country (whichever might be) wouldn't have many citizens and ir government officials that wouldn't be bitter that their people were blown up to protect some other country's capital, or to protect one of their aircraft carriers.

Even worse when the country doing the blowing up of civilians were to ve the world's line super power.

I hope someone is drawing a line from the last reported ATC position and continue west to the possible target location the military spotted to the west of Malaysia. Continue that line for the approximate 6 hours of fuel remaining after burning the estimated 8 hours of fuel on board.Look on the east coast of Africa. Perhaps Somalia, Kenya, or Tanz. Or perhaps ditched en route. Just Saying.

“Embarrassment and anger” are mounting in Malaysia at the confusing and contradictory information issued by the authorities, according to the Malaysia Insider. In an opinion piece it said:

Do we have to wait and wonder for more than 24 hours the reasons for the expanded search at the Sumatra coast and the Andaman Sea because [Civil Aviation Chief] Azharuddin could only say cryptically: “There are some things that I can tell you and some things that I can’t.”

More importantly, will any of this delay make it even harder to find the 239 people onboard flight MH370 which has been missing for more than 100 hours now?

The whole world is watching Malaysia now because an aircraft with a wingspan of 61m does not fall off the sky or disappear into thin air just like that.

Interestingly we are hearing nothing about what the omni-present NSA is learning from all of their chatter monitoring about the plane's disappearance. This is looking more like a hijacking with potentially a struggle for control that brought the plane down. However, there is zero evidence this aircraft crashed.

Military radar suggests the missing Malaysia Airlines plane turned west, away from its planned route, before vanishing, Malaysia's air force says. Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing on Saturday, after taking off with 239 people on board. The international search for any wreckage has been widened. Read The Story here http://goo.gl/UDoOaW

A lot of armchair quarterbacking by a lot of people who have no knowledge of what went on. One hundred percent of the earth's surface is not monitored by satellite 24/7. Likewise, 100% of the earth's surface is not monitored by radar 24/7.

I'm guessing Iran Air will be starting domestic service with a B777 shortly.

It's clear the Malaysian Govt./Air Force have been feeding us BS, and giving everybody the run around - either that or are showing us just how incompetent they are (or both) about the only good thing about this missing aircraft is it is showing the world just what a Banana Republic Malaysia is.

Hopefully the Americans are giving these Bananas a tongue lashing around now.

But successfully getting to Iran would take a lot of preplanning to get around the Indian subcontinent. A refueling would be necessary no matter the path flown. Almost being able to get there, still means falling short. Falling short in a airliner at cruising altitude is a catastrophic failure.

I take his suggestion as tongue in cheek. Where's that sarcasm font, when you need it?

Your going to have to be a bit more up front. Which actual part is offensive.

Iran Air - plane last spotted headed that way with Iranians illegally on board - do I believe that to be the case - No - at this point anything is possible.

Malaysian Govt. feeding us BS - actually not just us - the disrespect alone to the families, never mind the searchers, aviation community, world press.

We know during 9/11 the hijackers turned off the transponders and we could not communicate with them, AF447 sent something like 43 ACARS messages - which were released immediately to the public.

In this case, Malaysian ATC which uses secondary radar to interrogates the trasponder - lost contact with the aircraft - primary radar which Malaysian military use - monitors surface to air airspace - and they now claim - they monitored this flight for an hour beyond the last ATC transponder hit.

Not just monitored it, but watched it turn west and overfly Malaysia off into the West and beyond.

So they are showing complete and utter lack of coordination, thus inhibiting every effort to find this plane. Not to mention - if the aircraft continued for another 1 hour - why are they not releasing ACARS???

The USA which is now becoming involved in this search is going to be pissed, and should be.

Here is the last info we now know from Malaysian Military - if it is to be believed;

On Mar 11th 2014 Malaysia's Air Force reported their primary radar data suggest, the aircraft may have turned west over the Gulf of Thailand at about 1000 meters/3000 feet below the original flight level (editorial note: another possible interpretation could be: at 1000 meters of height compared to 10000 meters original level) and flown past the east coast near Khota Baru and the west coast of Malaysia near Kedah, the radar return was last seen at 02:40L near Pulau Perak in the Straits of Malacca, about 285nm westsouthwest of the last known (secondary) radar position. Local Police at Khota Bharu confirmed a number of locals reported lights and a low flying aircraft at Khota Bharu at an estimated height of 1000 meters/3000 feet.

I wonder if that plane landed at CoCo Island and was camouflaged afterwards. That island is very remote, not inhabited by many and has a runway that is long enough to set a 777 down. This island was also used by the military for surveillance at an earlier time. I'll bet some preparation was made to do just that and that 777 may show up as a modified military variety at a later time. There are a few more islands out there that could also accommodate an aircraft of that size. Just saying.

What do you see as mockery? At this point, we can say somebody did something with the airplane.Whether it was to make a point, call attention to themselves, their plight or some situation, or if the plane is intended for further use of some kind. 209flyboy is suggesting a possible location for the last. I don't see that as mockery- for that, try the space alien theory espoused elsewhere.

I believe I was correctly following the thread of conversation. You expressed an opinion indicating you thought 209's comment was 'making a mockery out of a tragedy". In what way to you see his comment on a possible landing site for the aircraft a mockery of the tragedy?

Willie Carter,If you click on your name, it will take you to your profile page and you can see info about your account and postings. If you click on someone else's name you will go to their profile.Try it with PhotoFinish

The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was widened in scope significantly on Tuesday to include a major land search, as the company revealed the plane was given a clean bill of health just 10 days before it vanished. All Malaysia Airlines aircraft are equipped with continuous data monitoring system called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) which transmits data automatically. Nevertheless, there were no distress calls and no information was relayed.

Just sitting here, shaking my head at all the rumors and misinformation or what appears to be rumors and misinformation. It seems so bizarre that all communication and contact with a modern jetliner ceases simultaneously. Not even the automated contacts between airliner and airline.

After talking to some friends on another website, looking at a map and reading through some of the rumors and a small amount of research it makes sense to me that if there was a problem with the plane they were probably trying to make it to Sultan Ismail Petra but came up short.

If you hear the ringing while you're calling, it doesn't mean the phone you're calling is ringing. The ringing you hear is the network trying to locate the phone. For example, you've called someone and you hear it ringing forever on your end, and you yell at the person for not answering, and they respond that it only rung once...

It tells a lot !!!! It is true that the ring is generated by the phone company, but only when the phone is on AND registered to a network. If the phone is off you would hear a message that says the cellphone may be off or unreachable.

When was the last time you rang a Chinese cell phone that was out of country and out of network, while you were in China, using a Chinese cell phone.

One's starting point should always allow for variability in how cell networks are configured and variability in the logic of the programming of cell network behaviors. If one can only accept that the every network in every country in the entire world must be programmed identically for their argument to stand up to scrutiny, then their argument is built on a shaky premise.

The three significant leads that officials had in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner that disappeared Saturday failed to pan out, and underscore the fact that, despite the wealth of safety and emergency equipment on the plane, modern technology is unquestionably fallible.